I add a little Guinness to the pot Joe. Plenty of onions and garlic (if you don't dislike garlic!) If you don't make your own stock (boiling up bones and scraps for ages - very tedious) a good stock cube is important. Enough salt (ignore the health gurus) and coarsely-ground pepper.
Of course, husband would add heaps of chilli powder and those deadly Scotch bonnets, but I'm sure your mouth & insides wouldn't cope with those.